Monday, April 20, 2020
After a Year of Silence, a Jailed Saudi Princess Appeals for Help
The detentions of a prince and princess add to the tally of royals who have been locked up during the rise of the kingdom’s powerful crown prince.
For years, she was a rare princess from Saudi Arabia who spoke her mind to the world, criticizing the kingdom’s treatment of women, calling its religious teachings “extremely dangerous” and voicing support for a constitutional monarchy.
And she got away with it — until she disappeared last March.
This week, the princess, Basmah bint Saud, a daughter of Saudi Arabia’s second king, confirmed what had long been suspected: A statement on her Twitter feed said that she was being held in a notorious prison in Saudi Arabia without charge and that she was in urgent need of medical care.“I was abducted without explanation together with one of my daughters and thrown into prison,” she wrote. She begged Saudi Arabia’s king and the crown prince “to release me as I have done no wrong.”
By Friday, that plea had been deleted.
The reason for her arrest was not clear, but it appeared to fit a pattern of Saudi Arabia’s government punishing prominent citizens who had publicly deviated from the government’s line.
Her detention was one of two new cases of Saudi royals locked up during the rise of the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.Last month, Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, also a child of a Saudi king, was detained, leaving his family with no idea why he was taken or where he is being held, according to three associates of his family.
Since his father, King Salman, ascended the throne in 2015, Prince Mohammed has repeatedly locked up members of the royal family while consolidating his position as the kingdom’s de facto ruler.He has also gone after prominent critics. Among them are activists who were imprisoned after campaigning for women to have the right to drive, and the dissident Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by Saudi agents in Istanbul in 2018 after publishing columns critical of the crown prince in The Washington Post.
But the detentions of less prominent figures like Princess Basmah baffled some Saudi experts.
“Why are they being arrested?” asked Madawi al-Rasheed, a visiting professor at the London School of Economics who studies Saudi Arabia. “Someone like Basmah, what kind of challenge does she represent to Mohammed bin Salman? I have no idea.”
Officials at the Saudi Embassy in Washington declined to comment.
At least 11 princes were locked in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton in 2017 and accused of corruption. At least one, Turki bin Abdullah, is still detained. The former crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, a cousin whom Prince Mohammed elbowed aside to become crown prince himself, was placed under house arrest before being detained last month, along with one of Mohammed bin Salman’s uncles.
Many of these princes had held powerful positions as the heads of security bodies or as provincial governors, leading analysts to conclude that the crown prince had detained them to neutralize potential threats to his standing.
But Princess Basmah and Prince Faisal, the two newest cases, had never held significant power or influence. And two associates of Princess Basmah said she was being held with her daughter in Al Ha’ir Prison, a notorious lockup for criminals and jihadists near the capital, Riyadh, a move that appeared to have no precedent, said Dr. al-Rasheed, the Saudi scholar.
“Historically, they just put them in their villas and didn’t let them out,” she said of previous detentions of female royals. “To put her in Al Ha’ir Prison is really extreme.”
Princess Basmah, 57, is the youngest daughter of King Saud, Saudi Arabia’s second king. He fathered 53 sons and 57 daughters with numerous wives and concubines and was forced to abdicate the throne in 1964 by other members of his family.
For many years, Princess Basmah lived in London, where she was involved in business and spoke about human rights and the need for change in Saudi Arabia.
In an interview with the BBC in 2012, she called for a constitution in Saudi Arabia “that treats all men and women on an equal footing” and that would protect citizens in court from “the whims of individual judges.”She criticized the kingdom’s divorce laws for not protecting women’s rights and said the Saudi education system “has left our youth vulnerable to fundamentalist ideologies that have led to terrorism.”While such criticisms were common among Saudi dissidents and rights activists, Princess Basmah stood out as a rare royal to voice such ideas publicly.But she faced no immediate consequences, and returned to Saudi Arabia after Salman became king. In 2017, she praised him in an interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle, saying she expected him to improve the kingdom’s human rights record.“There is a progress in Saudi Arabia and in the human rights issue in Saudi Arabia,” she said. “It is being looked at more seriously than it was before.”But speaking to BBC Arabic the next year, she offered a veiled criticism of Prince Mohammed, who had begun a sweeping plan called Vision 2030 that sought to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil and open up Saudi society.
“He has a vision, Vision 2030, and I see that in that vision, there is a direction toward a type of isolation of all those who do not agree with that vision,” she said.
One of Princess Basmah’s associates said officials from the royal court told her she could face trouble if she did not praise Prince Mohammed in such interviews.
Princess Basmah suffers from health problems including heart trouble and osteoporosis, and in early 2019 she was planning to seek medical care in Switzerland. But on March 1, before she left, security officers arrested her from her home in Jeddah on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast with her daughter, Suhoud, 27, the two associates said.
The two women have not publicly been charged with any crimes.
As her detention has dragged on, her health has deteriorated and she now struggles to get out of bed, her two associates said. This week, out of desperation, she got word to her staff to post the appeal on her Twitter account.
Appealing to King Salman and Prince Mohammed, she described her health status as “VERY critical” and said she had received no medical care.
On Friday, her two associates said they did not know how the messages had been deleted.
Prince Faisal, now in his mid-40s, was the head of the Saudi Red Crescent during the reign of his father, King Abdullah, who died in 2015, but has otherwise done little to gain public notice.
He was briefly detained in the Ritz-Carlton in 2017 and surrendered some of his assets to the government, one of his associates said. He had been living quietly off his remaining wealth since.
On March 27, security officers came to his home near Riyadh and accused him of having Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, two of his associates said. Prince Faisal denied that he had the disease and said he was living in isolation anyway.
He was arrested nonetheless. His family has not heard from him since and do not know why he was taken or where he is being held, his three associates said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/world/middleeast/saudi-princess-prison.html
حکومت پیسے بہت خرچ کر رہی ہے لیکن نظر کچھ نہیں آ رہا: چیف جسٹس
چیف جسٹس نے حکومتی اعلان جس میں درزی کو دکان کھولنے کی اجازت دی گئی، اس کے حوالے سے بھی سوال کیا کہ 'کپڑے کی دوکانیں کھولے بغیر درزی کھولنے کا کیا فائدہ؟ درزی کو کپڑا اور دیگر چیزیں بھی چاہیے ہوتی ہیں۔ایسے تو درزی ہاتھ پر ہاتھ رکھ کر بیٹھا رہے گا۔'
ملک بھر میں کرونا وائرس اقدامات کے حوالے سے ازخود نوٹس کیس کی سماعت پیر کے روز چیف جسٹس گلزار احمد کی سربراہی میں پانچ رکنی لارجر بینچ نے کی۔ آج کی سماعت میں چیف جسٹس پاکستان نے بیت المال میں موجود زکوة کے پیسے کے استعمال پر سوالات کیے۔
عدالت میں وزارت صحت اور تمام صوبوں نے رپورٹس جمع کروائیں۔ چیف جسٹس نے کہا کہ 'حکومت پیسے تو بہت خرچ کر رہی ہے لیکن نظر کچھ نہیں آ رہا کہ ہو کیا رہا ہے۔'
عدالت نے اپنے حکم نامے میں زکوۃ اور بیت المال کے پیسے کے بارے میں اسلامی نظریاتی کونسل اور مفتی تقی عثمانی سے شرعی رائے طلب کر لی۔ 'بتایا جائے کہ زکوۂ اور بیت المال کے پیسے سے ادارے کی تنخواہیں دی جا سکتی ہیں یا نہیں۔ کیا زکوۂ اور صدقے کی رقم سے ادارے کے دیگر اخراجات بھی چلائے جا سکتے ہیں یا نہیں۔'
چیف جسٹس نے کہا کہ 'کوئی طریقہ کار صوبوں اوروفاق کے مابین دکھائی نہیں دے رہا۔ بیت المال والوں نے عدالت میں جواب بھی جمع نہیں کرایا۔ بیت المال کیا کررہا ہے عدالت کو کیا معلوم؟ کسی بھی عمل میں شفافیت نہیں دکھائی دے رہی ہے۔'
انہوں نے مزید کہا کہ تمام حکومتیں ریلیف کی مد میں رقم خرچ کررہی ہیں لیکن اس میں ٹرانسپرینسی دیکھائی نہیں دے رہی۔ جسٹس عمر عطا نے کہا کہ 'نو ارب سے زائد رقم وفاق نے صوبوں کو دی لیکن صوبےآگے رقم کا کیا کررہے ہیں اس کی مانیٹرنگ ہونی چاہیے۔ مانیٹرنگ سے صوبائی خود مختاری پر کوئی حرف نہیں آتا۔' چیف جسٹس نے کہا کہ 'زکوٰۃ کا پیسہ لوگوں کے ٹی اے ڈی اے اورباہر دورے کروانے کے لیے نہیں ہے بلکہ مزارات کا پیسہ اللہ کی راہ میں خرچ کرنے کے لیے ہوتا ہے۔'
قرنطینہ سینٹرز کے حوالے سے چیف جسٹس نے کہا کہ 'تفتان کے قرنطینہ میں رہنا بھی ڈراؤنا خواب تھا۔ حکومت قرنطینہ مراکز میں کھانے اور تمام بنیادی سہولیات کی دستیابی یقینی بنائے۔ سیکرٹری صحت نے عدالت کو یقین دہانی کرائی کہ وہ آج قرنطینہ سینٹرز کا دورہ کر کے سہولیات کی فراہمی یقینی بنائیں گے۔
جسٹس قاضی امین نے کرونا کے پلازمہ کے ذریعے علاج بابت استفسار کیا کہ 'کیا پلازما سے واقعی کرونا وائرس کاعلاج ممکن ہے؟' سیکرٹری صحت تنویر قریشی نے عدالت کو بتایا کہ پلازما انفیوژن ٹیسٹنگ کے مراحل میں ہے۔ تاہم ابھی تک اس کے مثبت نتائج سامنے نہیں آئے۔
چیف جسٹس نے اٹارنی جنرل سے استفسار کیا کہ 'ورلڈ بینک کے پیسے سے یونیسف سے خریداری کا کیا معمہ ہے؟ یہ تو پیسہ ایک ہاتھ سے لیکر دوسرے سے دینے کی بات ہے۔ کسی صوبے اور محکمے نے شفافیت پر مبنی رپورٹ نہیں دی۔ عوام اور بیرون ملک سے لیا گیا پیسہ نہ جانے کیسے خرچ ہو رہا ہے۔کھربوں روپے خرچ ہو چکے اور مریض صرف پانچ ہزار ہیں۔'
جسٹس قاضی امین نے کہا کہ 'قرنطینہ مراکز بنانے کی بجائے سکول اور کالجز کا استعمال کیوں نہیں کیا جاتا۔ قرنطینہ مراکز بنانے پر پیسہ کیوں لگایا جارہا ہے۔' اس پر اٹارنی جنرل نے تائید کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ سکولوں کی تجویز اچھی ہے اس پر غور کریں گے۔
چیف جسٹس نے سندھ ایڈوکیٹ جنرل کی سرزنش کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ 'سنا ہے آپ نے سندھ میں زائد المعیاد آٹا اور چینی بانٹی۔' اس پر ایڈوکیٹ جنرل سندھ نے جواب دیا کہ ایسی بات نہیں ہے۔ پتہ نہیں ایسی باتیں کون پھیلاتا ہے۔ سندھ حکومت کی رپورٹ میں بتایا ہے کہ تقسیم کی جانے والے اشیا یوٹیلٹی سٹورز سے خرید کردہ ہیں۔'
چیف جسٹس نے کہا کہ 'کسی کو علم نہیں ہوا اور سندھ حکومت نے ایک ارب کا راشن بانٹ دیا۔ سندھ حکومت چھوٹا سے کام کرکے اخباروں میں تصویریں لگواتی ہے۔ اور بلوچستان حکومت کی رپورٹ میں بھی شفافیت کا مسئلہ ہے۔
جسٹس سجاد علی شاہ جن کا تعلق سندھ سے ہے انہوں نے کہا کہ 'ہمارے صوبے کے بارے میں باتیں کیوں بنتی ہیں؟ سندھ سے متعلق باتیں بلاوجہ تو نہیں بنتی کوئی تو وجہ ہے۔'
چیف جسٹس نے حکومتی اعلان جس میں درزی کو دکان کھولنے کی اجازت دی اُس پر بھی اعتراض اُٹھا دیا۔ انہوں نے کہا 'کپڑے کی دوکانیں کھولے بغیر درزی کھولنے کا کیا فائدہ؟ درزی کو کپڑا اور دیگر چیزیں بھی چاہیے ہوتی ہیں۔ایسے تو درزی ہاتھ پر ہاتھ رکھ کر بیٹھا رہے گا۔'
آج ہونے والی سماعت میں بھی سپریم کورٹ کا روم نمبر 1 بھرا ہوا تھا۔ وکلا اور صحافیوں کی کافی تعداد عدالت میں موجود تھی۔ جبکہ گلگت بلتستان کے ایڈوکیٹ جنرل کے علاوہ باقی تمام شرکا وڈیو لنک کے ذریعے عدالت میں حاضر تھے۔ گزشتہ سماعت کے برعکس چیف جسٹس اور جسٹس عمر عطا بندیال نے ماسک پہن رکھے تھے جب کہ باقی تین ججوں نے ماسک نہیں پہنے تھے۔
عدالت نے حکم میں کہا کہ صوبائی حکومتیں میڈیکل عملے اور ڈاکٹرز کا مکمل خیال رکھیں۔ ممکن ہو تو میڈیکل عملے کو اضافی مراعات دی جائیں۔ وبا سے نمٹنے کے لیے حکومتی ادارے آپس میں تعاون کریں۔ اس کے علاوہ چاروں صوبوں اوروفاق کو آئندہ سماعت سے قبل کرونا وائرس پروگریس رپورٹ طلب کرتے ہوئے سماعت دو ہفتوں کے لیے ملتوی کر دی۔
پاکستانی مسجدوں میں ہی عبادت کیوں کرنا چاہتے ہیں؟
عاطف بلوچ
سعودی عرب کی اعلیٰ ترین مذہبی کونسل نے کہہ دیا ہے کہ کورونا وائرس کے پھیلاؤ کو روکنے کی خاطر رمضان میں مسلمان گھروں میں ہی عبادت کریں لیکن پاکستانی نمازی مسجدوں کا رخ ہی کیوں کرنا چاہتے ہیں؟
حکومت کی کوشش تھی کہ نئے کورونا وائرس کے پھیلاؤ کو روکنے یا سست کرنے کی خاطر رمضان کے مقدس مہینے میں پاکستانی گھروں میں ہی رہیں اور نمازوں، سحری، افطاری اور تراویج جیسے اہم مذہبی امور گھر میں ہی ادا کریں لیکن ایک مرتبہ پھر تمام تر کوششوں کے باوجود پاکستان کا مذہبی حلقہ ’جیت گیا‘ ہے۔ آخر کار پاکستانی حکومت نے مسجدوں اور امام باڑوں میں ماہ رمضان کے دوران تراویح اور عبادات کی مشروط اجازت دے دی ہے۔
سوال یہ ہے کہ پاکستانی مذہبی رہنما اس بات پر زور کیوں دے رہے ہیں؟ کیا یہ ایک صرف مذہبی معاملہ ہے یا اس کے پیچھے سیاسی، نفسیاتی اور اقتصادی محرکات بھی پنہاں ہیں؟
سعودی عرب کی سینیئر اسکالرز کی کونسل نے البتہ کہا ہے کہ اگر کووڈ انیس کے پھیلنے کے خدشات ہیں تو نہ صرف سعودی مسلمان بلکہ تمام مسلم ممالک کے دین دار مسجدوں کا رخ نہ کریں بلکہ تمام تر مذہبی فرائض گھروں میں ہی ادا کریں۔
سعودی عرب کی اعلیٰ ترین مذہبی کونسل نے کہا کہ لوگوں کی جانیں بچانا ایک عظیم عمل ہے اور یہ عمل مسلمان کو اللہ کے قریب تر کرتا ہے۔
تاہم سوشل میڈیا پر شائع کردہ تصاویر میں ہم نے دیکھا کہ اسلام آباد کی لال مسجد میں نمازیوں کی ایک بڑی تعداد نے پاؤں سے پاؤں جوڑ کر نماز جمعہ ادا کی۔
پاکستان کے موجودہ سیاسی و معاشرتی حالات کے تناظر میں بے شک لوگوں کو مجبور نہیں کیا جا سکتا کہ وہ مذہبی فرائض گھروں میں ہی ادا کریں کیونکہ اب یہ معاملہ صرف چند مذہبی رہنماؤں کا ہی نہیں بلکہ اکثریت کا قطعی یقین ہے کہ اللہ کے سامنے مسجدوں میں جا کر حاضری دینا ضروری ہے اور موت تو برحق ہے۔ لیکن حقیقیت یہ ہے کہ اسلام کے مطابق اللہ تو شہ رگ سے بھی زیادہ قریب ہے جبکہ موت برحق تو ہے لیکن خودکشی حرام ہے۔
کیا پاکستانی مسلمان سعودی عرب، ایران یا پھر دیگر مسلم ممالک کے مقابلے میں زیادہ متقی و پرہیزگار اور بہتر مسلمان ہیں؟ اور کیا صرف مساجد اور امام باڑوں کا رخ کرنے سے ہی یہ ثابت کیا جا سکتا ہے؟
کہانی پرانی ہے اور کڑوی بھی ہے۔ سابق فوجی آمر ضیا الحق کے دور میں اسلامائزیشن، سوویت جنگ میں مجاہدین اور پھر افغان جنگ میں طالبان کی تیاری یا کشمیر کے محاذ پر ’حریت پسندوں‘ کی تربیت۔ اس سب کی بھی ایک معیشت رہی ہے۔ لیکن اس کا فائدہ عام مسلمان کو ہرگز نہیں بلکہ صرف چند گروہوں کو ہی حاصل ہوا یا ہو رہا ہے۔
عسکری اسٹیبشلمنٹ کی طرف گزشتہ کئی دہائیوں سے اسلامی تعلیمات کا غلط استعمال کیا گیا اور اب صورتحال یہ ہے کہ لوگ اس بارے میں شاید سوچتے تو ہیں لیکن لب کشائی کی ہمت نہیں کرتے۔ دیگر مذاہب کی طرح اسلام بھی اعتدال کا درس دیتا ہے ناکہ انتہا پسندی کا۔
لاک ڈاؤن کی وجہ سے ملک کی اقتصادیات کو شدید خطرات لاحق ہیں۔ اگر نیا کورونا وائرس پاکستان میں بھی ویسے ہی سرایت کر گیا، جیسے اس نے امریکا یا یورپی ممالک میں کیا ہے تو ہر پاکستانی شہری کو اس کے نتائج بھگتنا پڑیں گے۔ اٹھارہ ملین ملازمتوں کے ختم ہونے کا خدشہ ابھی سے پیدا ہو چکا ہے۔
اس عالمی وبا نے سوچنے پر مجبور کر دیا ہے کہ جہاں کئی امور میں بہتری لانے کی ضرورت ہے، وہیں اسلام کی درست تعلیمات پر عمل پیرا ہونا بھی ضروری ہے۔ اچھے، نیک اور متقی مسلمان ہونے کے لیے صرف مسجد جانا ہی ضروری نہیں بلکہ اس سے بڑھ کر دوسرے مسلمانوں کی زندگیوں کا خیال رکھنا اہم ہے
India and Pakistan report low cases – but are they underestimating the scale of coronavirus?
Despite their huge populations and often overburdened healthcare systems, deaths have been nothing like that seen in Europe or America.
At a press conference last week, the Pakistan government's point man for coordinating the response to the Covid-19 pandemic gave what appeared to be good news.
Dr Zafar Mirza said the number of reported cases in the country was running at a third what epidemiological modellers had forecast.
The prime minister's special adviser on health said models had predicted more than 18,000 cases by mid-April, but fewer than 6,000 had been recorded.
Recorded cases have also been surprisingly low in India. More than five weeks since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic, India and Pakistan are not reporting the high case tallies and death tolls seen in many other countries.
Despite their huge populations and often overburdened healthcare systems, deaths have been nothing like that seen in Europe or America. While numbers are starting to gather momentum, by April 20 the two countries which between them account for a fifth of the world's population had reported a total of only 735 deaths and 25,722 infections.
Yet there are worries that the real picture is being hidden by a lack of testing and the two countries may be badly underestimating the scale of the virus. If the number of cases is being underestimated, the number of deaths is also likely to be underrated.
Reports of an unexplained rise in deaths in Pakistan's port city of Karachi last week caused alarm. The Edhi charitable foundation said its white minivan ambulances had been much busier than usual.
The fleet which tends to millions of residents has in the first two weeks of April picked up 70 per cent more dead bodies from homes than it did last year. What has caused the rise is a mystery and Imran Khan has said linking it to the coronavirus pandemic is political scaremongering.
The head of the foundation has stressed he does not know the reason and cannot link it to Covid-19, but in a time of pandemic, the rise has caused worry. The lack of testing means there is no clarity.
Likewise major hospitals in the city have reported a rise in patients being brought in dead from medical complaints. The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre wrote to the local health minister last week to inform him that the number of dead-on-arrival patients had risen at least two-fold in the first weeks of April.
Again, the cause is unknown and a lack of test kits mean the dead are largely not being swabbed for the new coronavirus sweeping the world.
Across the border in India, medical staff report chronic undertesting. One doctor in Gujarat told the Telegraph his superiors had told him there was no need to test medical staff.
"The senior doctors are saying, every one of us will get herd immunity sooner or later. So there is no need for extensive testing, isolation, quarantine and so on. So the numbers India is showing are grossly under represented," he said.
This lack of testing in the two countries is making tracking the outbreak difficult. While both countries are ramping up testing, Pakistan is currently carrying out 0.4 tests per thousand people, and India is carrying out 0.2 tests, compared with around 10 in the US and Korea.
“The deaths are likely to be much higher, the problem is that we are not testing enough,” said Dr Yogesh Jain, a public health expert based in Chhattisgarh, India.
“We are testing so little that people who may have the disease are not being tested and being labelled as a non-Covid death.
“Certainly it is more than ten times or one hundred times of cases because of our poor diagnostic methods and poor diagnostic ability.”
One international health official in Islamabad said: “The data available now may not be accurately representing the situation out there.” Pakistan has said it hopes to increase testing capacity to 10,000 a day this week. “Let’s hope that confirms as well the real situation on the ground,” said the official.
Tracking the progress of the pandemic has been made more difficult because officials suspect sick patients are not being taken to hospital. Pakistan's intensive care units have not been hit by a surge of patients and even its meagre supply of 2,000-odd ventilators remains largely unused.
“The hospitalisation is increasing but not at a significant rate,” said another international health official. “Partly it is due to the fact that hospitals are discouraging people from presenting at the facility if they are not so serious. So there is possibility of people staying at home for fairly serious illnesses.”
The lack of reported cases is so pronounced that it has launched another hypothesis among some Pakistani health officials however – that the virus is somehow behaving less virulently in South Asia, perhaps because of the heat.
Temperatures went above 35C in Lahore and Delhi this week. That could give a seasonal respite, until colder temperatures return and the virus strikes again, they argue.
World Health Organization officials have been reluctant to entertain that though. Not only is a lack of testing more likely to be the reason, they say, but the seasonal theory might lead to dangerous complacency.
As it stands, the lack of testing and low numbers are making the outbreak difficult to predict.
“The estimated figures that we have right now are three times less than expected,” said one Pakistani official. “There is no understanding on why it is not having that kind of effect. You could read the data in any direction you want because there is no surety on anything.
“You don't know what kind of response that should be there, so for now you just lock down and increase testing capacity, you are bringing people inside as much as your system can take and then hoping that nothing bad happens. A lot of this is actually pinned on hope.”
Pakistan Removes Thousands of Names From Terrorist Watch List
By Dylan Tokar
The list has been cut in half in the past 18 months without public explanation.
The so-called proscribed persons list, which is maintained by Pakistan’s National Counter Terrorism Authority, or NACTA, is intended in part to help financial institutions avoid doing business with or processing transactions of suspected terrorists.
The list, which in 2018 contained about 7,600 names, has been reduced to under 3,800 in the past 18 months. About 1,800 of the names have been removed since the beginning of March, according to data collected by Castellum.AI, a New York-based regulatory technology
No public explanation was given for the removals as they were made, but a Pakistani official said in an email interview that they are part of the country’s ongoing efforts to comply with a commitment to strengthen its counterterrorism safeguards.
The size and speed of the removals is unusual, according to Peter Piatetsky, a former senior policy adviser for the U.S. Treasury and co-founder of Castellum.AI. “Removing close to 4,000 names without a public explanation is unheard of and it raises significant questions about the listing process,” he said.
Global standards call for countries to communicate de-listings to the financial sector immediately upon taking such action. Pakistan, which designates entities and persons with suspected links to terrorism under its Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997, hasn’t historically done so.
The Pakistani official, Tahir Akbar Awan, a section officer with the Ministry of Interior, said the list had become “bloated with multiple inaccuracies” because it contained names of individuals who had died and those who may have committed crimes but weren’t associated with a designated terrorist group.
The Financial Action Task Force, an international organization that sets global standards and monitors countries’ anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism-financing policies, is scheduled to evaluate Pakistan’s progress in June, although measures intended to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus could delay the assessment.
Pakistan has been under increased monitoring from the FATF since June 2018. If it fails to make progress on an action plan developed by the organization, FATF members could vote to further restrict the country’s access to the international financial system.
A FATF spokesperson declined to comment on the removal of names from Pakistan’s terrorist watch list. In February, the group said Pakistan had largely addressed about half of the action items it had agreed to implement to prevent additional sanctions.
The organization is famously opaque, and doesn't publicly explain in detail the steps a country must take as part of an action plan, said Michael Kugelman, a deputy director at the Wilson Center, a Washington-based global policy research institution chartered by Congress in 1968.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the FATF has an expectation that Pakistan move forward on the prosecution of certain prominent terrorists, he said. In February, a Pakistani court convicted high-profile militant leader Hafiz Saeed on terrorist financing charges. Mr. Saeed’s name remains on Pakistan’s watch list.
Irfan Vaid, a sanctions and financial crimes compliance consultant who previously worked at the U.S. Treasury as an adviser and attaché to Pakistan, welcomed the updates to the list but said Pakistan still had a way to go in making it fully effective.
“Their list is lacking a lot of names, identifiers and other information we need to make definitive matches,” he said.
Several of the names removed from Pakistan’s list appear to be aliases for designated terrorists listed on U.S. or United Nations sanctions lists, according to Castellum.AI. The lack of certain identifiers—such as dates of birth or, in some cases, a national ID number—on NACTA’s list makes it difficult to know for sure, sanctions experts said.
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